DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Should be easy, done it many times in all sorts of bricks, blocks and concrete. Using hammer drill (if required) and decent bits, take it slowly, clear often.

However recently moved to an old terrace, brick built with nasty soft, gritty grey plaster. I find one in two holes drilled so far fails, bit skids or bounces. I have tried both Wilko bits and de Walt bits. Both bounce, skid or simply overheat despite due care. I feel like a fool, whatever can be going wrong? Yup, it is NOT set in reverse ...

Are these local bricks made of some special hard grade firing or are these bits just crap? I must have drilled many hundreds of holes in bricks and concrete and even granite before. Thus has got me beat andfoir the first time in forty years of day, joining a forum for ideas and recommendations for drill bits, 5.5 to 8mm!

you need to use an SDS drill it is more powerful and the drill bits are much better

Thanks. Not going to buy an sds and kit for a few shelves! A hammer drill and good tct bits will punch into even hard glazed bricks and agg in concrete. Turns out the problem is the quality of modern bits is shite, even from brand names. I borrowed some twenty five year old tct bits, no name but probably old fashioned Bosch and they worked beautifully.

The other brands that ALL failed were one modern Bosch, 3 Wilko nameless, 2 Rawlplug and a set of de Walt. In the end I got annoyed enough I quartered off the wall and tried each bit make in 3 places in each quarter, yup, a LOT of holes. Around a hundred. 50% failure over all brands yet the ones I borrowed drilled 30 holes without one failure. So I shall be scouring the flea markets for old bits by the bucketful to get some that work.

Ebay have sds drills for sale, and cheap its best to invest in these drills as it will save you money in the long run